Many people occasionally crave a nice big bowl of freshly-popped buttered and salted popcorn. Unfortunately, the way it is generally prepared, this may not be healthy for you. Here are some suggestions that will make this treat more nutritious:
Use organic popcorn where possible. Organic corn contains kernels that should be non-GMO by definition.
Try popping the corn in a hot air popcorn-maker rather than in a pan of heated vegetable oils. Some vegetable oils become carcinogenic at high temperature.
Try greatly reducing or if possible eliminating the salt that you would normally sprinkle on the popcorn. Taste the popcorn before you salt it. Good, fresh organic popcorn has a very pleasant taste that does require much salt.
Substitute melted (organic) coconut oil for butter. The fatty acids composing coconut oil are good for you, and may help reduce the incidence of heart disease, high blood pressure and cholesterol when substituted for animal fats (butter) and most processed vegetable oils. It also surprisingly tastes very good on top of popcorn.
Most places (movie theaters) use non-organic GMO corn, cooked in vegetable oil, with a lot of butter (dairy) and a lot of salt. Unfortunately most corn, thanks to Monsanto, is now genetically-modified. Thanks to lobbying by large food companies, the farming community (non-organic farmers), and grocery chains, they have blocked the requirement to show GMO-based ingredients on food labels. So be careful.
We have written many blog articles on this GMO subject:
GMO corn in Mexico … is it really banned? — Negativo
FDA’s revolving door – why you eat GMO’s
USDA’s final ruling on Dec. 20th hides GMO info from the consumer
GMO’s – here we go again with Monsanto, this time it’s our grass
FDA’s revolving door – why you eat GMO’s
Avoid movie-theater corn if it is popped with vegetable oils and doused in butter substitutes.
Fat is an important part of our diet … in moderation. All fat, whether coconut, animal-derived or vegetable oil contains 10 calories/gram. So whether you use a healthy or unhealthy source of fat, use fat in moderation so as to not exceed your calorie limit. The two healthiest fats for you to use in cooking or over food are coconut oil and olive oil.
Of course there may be some of you like this fellow below, who love their popcorn the old fashioned way, with lots of salt and butter. When he senses it lightly salted and with coconut oil, he rolls over and goes back to sleep.
